Leaders strike a deal

Congressional leaders strike a deal on appropriations bills and a stopgap funding measure

By Melanie Zanona, Kristin Wilson and Haley Talbot

Congressional leaders have struck a deal on some of the appropriations bills funding the federal government, as well as a short-term stopgap measure that would extend government funding and prevent a partial shutdown ahead of a Friday night deadline, a GOP leadership aide told CNN on Wednesday.

The agreement would continue to extend funding to six agencies including the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Justice and Science, Energy and Water, Interior, Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Transportation and Housing and Urban Development with a March 8 deadline. It would also extend the deadline for the other six agencies, including Defense, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Financial Services, State and Foreign Ops and Legislative Branch, through March 22, while negotiators work on a broader agreement to fully fund the government through the end of the fiscal year in September.

The House plans to vote Thursday on the one-week stopgap measure to avert a partial government shutdown, a GOP aide told CNN Wednesday, coming just one day before the deadline to fund roughly 20% of the federal government.

House Speaker Mike Johnson has offered to move a stopgap spending bill to buy negotiators more time to hammer out a longer-term spending agreement ahead of Friday’s first funding deadline, according to sources familiar with the matter. The speaker’s proposal to the White House, first reported by Punchbowl News, would move that first funding deadline for four government agencies from March 1 to March 8, and kick the rest to March 22.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said Wednesday afternoon they will be releasing the text of the measure “in the next few hours.”